diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index 4df1d991792..2738d622c4b 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ Bug Fixes
 
 * SOLR-14347: Autoscaling placement wrong when concurrent replica placements are calculated. (ab)
 
+* SOLR-14128: Improve distributed locking around managed schema upgrade process. (ab)
+
 Other Changes
 ---------------------
 * SOLR-14197: SolrResourceLoader: marked many methods as deprecated, and in some cases rerouted exiting logic to avoid
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/schema/ManagedIndexSchemaFactory.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/schema/ManagedIndexSchemaFactory.java
index 44d4c8e3ce7..9e7edc889ed 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/schema/ManagedIndexSchemaFactory.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/schema/ManagedIndexSchemaFactory.java
@@ -321,30 +321,32 @@ public class ManagedIndexSchemaFactory extends IndexSchemaFactory implements Sol
    * and no exception will be thrown.
    */
   private void zkUgradeToManagedSchema() {
-    schema.persistManagedSchemaToZooKeeper(true); // Only create, don't update it if it already exists
-
-    // After successfully persisting the managed schema, rename the non-managed
-    // schema znode by appending UPGRADED_SCHEMA_EXTENSION to its name.
-
     if (resourceName.equals(managedSchemaResourceName)) {
       log.info("On upgrading to managed schema, did not rename non-managed schema "
           + resourceName + " because it's the same as the managed schema's name.");
-    } else {
-      // Rename the non-managed schema znode in ZooKeeper
-      ZkSolrResourceLoader zkLoader = (ZkSolrResourceLoader)loader;
-      ZkController zkController = zkLoader.getZkController();
-      SolrZkClient zkClient = zkController.getZkClient();
-      final String nonManagedSchemaPath = zkLoader.getConfigSetZkPath() + "/" + resourceName;
-      final String lockPath = nonManagedSchemaPath + ".lock";
-      boolean locked = false;
+      return;
+    }
+    final ZkSolrResourceLoader zkLoader = (ZkSolrResourceLoader)loader;
+    final ZkController zkController = zkLoader.getZkController();
+    final SolrZkClient zkClient = zkController.getZkClient();
+    final String lockPath = zkLoader.getConfigSetZkPath() + "/schemaUpgrade.lock";
+    boolean locked = false;
+    try {
+      try {
+        zkClient.makePath(lockPath, null, CreateMode.EPHEMERAL, null, true, true);
+        locked = true;
+      } catch (Exception e) {
+        // some other node already started the upgrade, or an error occurred - bail out
+        return;
+      }
+      schema.persistManagedSchemaToZooKeeper(true); // Only create, don't update it if it already exists
+
+      // After successfully persisting the managed schema, rename the non-managed
+      // schema znode by appending UPGRADED_SCHEMA_EXTENSION to its name.
+
+      // Rename the non-managed schema znode in ZooKeeper
+      final String nonManagedSchemaPath = zkLoader.getConfigSetZkPath() + "/" + resourceName;
       try {
-        try {
-          zkClient.makePath(lockPath, null, CreateMode.EPHEMERAL, null, true, true);
-          locked = true;
-        } catch (Exception e) {
-          // some other node already started the upgrade, or an error occurred - bail out
-          return;
-        }
         ZkCmdExecutor zkCmdExecutor = new ZkCmdExecutor(zkController.getClientTimeout());
         if (zkController.pathExists(nonManagedSchemaPath)) {
           // First, copy the non-managed schema znode content to the upgraded schema znode
@@ -361,14 +363,14 @@ public class ManagedIndexSchemaFactory extends IndexSchemaFactory implements Sol
             }
           }
 
-          // Set the resource name to the managed schema so that the CoreAdminHandler returns a findable filename 
+          // Set the resource name to the managed schema so that the CoreAdminHandler returns a findable filename
           schema.setResourceName(managedSchemaResourceName);
 
           log.info("After upgrading to managed schema in ZooKeeper, renamed the non-managed schema "
-                  + nonManagedSchemaPath + " to " + upgradedSchemaPath);
+              + nonManagedSchemaPath + " to " + upgradedSchemaPath);
         } else {
           log.info("After upgrading to managed schema in ZooKeeper, the non-managed schema "
-                  + nonManagedSchemaPath + " no longer exists.");
+              + nonManagedSchemaPath + " no longer exists.");
         }
       } catch (Exception e) {
         if (e instanceof InterruptedException) {
@@ -376,16 +378,16 @@ public class ManagedIndexSchemaFactory extends IndexSchemaFactory implements Sol
         }
         final String msg = "Error persisting managed schema resource " + managedSchemaResourceName;
         log.warn(msg, e); // Log as warning and suppress the exception
-      } finally {
-        if (locked) {
-          // unlock
-          try {
-            zkClient.delete(lockPath, -1, true);
-          } catch (KeeperException.NoNodeException nne) {
-            // ignore - someone else deleted it
-          } catch (Exception e) {
-            log.warn("Unable to delete schema upgrade lock file " + lockPath, e);
-          }
+      }
+    } finally {
+      if (locked) {
+        // unlock
+        try {
+          zkClient.delete(lockPath, -1, true);
+        } catch (KeeperException.NoNodeException nne) {
+          // ignore - someone else deleted it
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+          log.warn("Unable to delete schema upgrade lock file " + lockPath, e);
         }
       }
     }